Wane: Tautai Wigan's only recruit

Wakefield forward Taulima Tautai will be Wigan's only recruit for 2015, coach Shaun Wane has confirmed.

The champions are losing centre Darrell Goulding to Hull and Australian stand-off Blake Green is returning to Australia to take up a contract with Melbourne but Wane is happy to plug the gaps from within.

Wane has given four home-grown products their Super League debuts this season and two other youngsters, George Williams and Sam Powell, have played most of the season, deputising for injured duo Green and Michael McIlorum.

"I'm happy with Tautai and I'm happy that Dom Crosby is going to be another 12 months on and all the other players are going to be a bit more mature," Wane said.

"We're really young, we just need to be patient with our team. It's exciting. We're in fantastic shape as a club.

"I'm a big believer of building for the future. We're the most successful team since 2010 when me and Madge (Michael Maguire) joined and we've still got a really, really young team which is going to be good for years to come.

"I get so many negative remarks sent to me about playing so many kids but people need to understand where we're at.

"We're in good shape. If we win three games we're top of the league and we've probably had the worst injury run out of every Super League team."

With hooker Michael McIlorum and centre Iain Thornley set to make their comebacks from lengthy injury lay-offs against Widnes on Friday and winger Joe Burgess, who scored 19 tries in 22 starts before picking up a knee injury in June, likely to make his return through the club's Under-19s, Wane has a full-strength squad to pick from and admits the youngsters will lose out in the club's quest to retain their league crown.

"We've had 38 players training this year but, when it comes to the real business end of the season, I have to be a little bit more ruthless," Wane added.

"I have a select group of players and it's a bit more defined. The young kids understand that they are not going to be in every session now."

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